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Spot weld connections are used extensively in the automotive industry to join panels of automotive structures. Spot weld connections play a very vital role in the overall structural rigidity and integrity of the Body in White. The spot weld connections and layout have direct impact on functionability of automotive structure and capital investment for robots, guns and operators. There is continuous pressure on automotive engineers to reduce the number of spot weld connections in a structure without compromising on the structural performance across various disciplines such as crash, NVH & durability. Hence the need is felt to develop a generic and systematic CAE simulation procedure which will guide the designer towards arriving at an optimum design, with minimum number of spot weld connections, which meet all the performance requirements of the structure.

In automotive design and development, there are different stages for product design. In this fast changing scenario product design, digital verification of design (CAE), physical validation of the product and launching of the same in short time is important in product development life cycle of any new generation vehicle. This paper proposes a new approach towards development of a green-field platform for commercial vehicles by improving reliability of CAE and thereby reducing the need for prototype testing and hence shortening development cycle and costs - we call it “Hybrid Mule”. This Hybrid Mule has complete design intent under-body and engine-house while upper-body is made of simple representative tubular space frame. FRP skin panels are attached to this space frame to create a safe environment for test-driver. FRP skin also provides early feel of styling in running condition and evaluates basic ergonomics and visibility.